ITAM & The Asset Lifecycle

Info Technology Asset Management (ITAM) suffers from a notion situation. On one particular hand, employing an ITAM program claims a considerable operational and money price cost savings of up to 30% of your software package spending budget. On the other hand, a new survey of CIOs and CFOs stories that 84% in no way see any of that price financial savings.

What gives?

I have been doing the job the ITAM and SAM (application asset administration – a ingredient of ITAM companies working especially with computer software licenses, assistance agreements, and audits) for more than 20 many years. I have noticed asset management resources and procedures go completely wrong for a myriad of motives. But the simplest and speediest problem to take care of is the poor implementation and enforcement of an asset lifecycle.

Just about each configuration asset administration database (CMDB) or asset managed data repository (Asset MDR) follows the similar five asset lifecycles phases provided by the ISO/IEC 19970-1:2017 greatest enterprise procedures:

1. Acquisition/Progress – assets in scope are acquired (or produced) in a controlled manner and adequately recorded
2. Launch/Deployment – be certain that releases of IT belongings in scope are planned and executed in a way that supports ITAM prerequisites
3. Operation – make sure that operational processing utilizing IT property in scope is executed in a way that supports ITAM prerequisites
4. (Re)deployment* – makes sure that the deployment and redeployment of IT assets in scope is executed in a way that supports ITAM prerequisites
5. Retirement – clear away IT assets in scope from their present use, with subsequent repurposing, recycling, and disposal in which proper, in accordance with business coverage and conference all record-retaining prerequisites

*Be aware – the ISO/IEC lumps Deployment and Redeployment procedures under the same title, to ITAM practitioners’ detriment. You will see why even more down…

The overriding theme of these definitions is that they are procedurally driven and subjective to the needs of the organizations’ overriding needs. But that also indicates CMDBs and Asset MDRs have to preserve their asset lifecycle flags subjective to their particular customer’s procedural demands. And if the customer’s group does not properly determine what these phases are, then the ITAM workforce are unable to hold up with all the deployments and alterations, and the CMDB/Asset MDR reporting results in being untrustworthy, and that points out why so quite a few CIOs and CFOs report this kind of very low thoughts of the total affair.

The trick to rebuilding asset lifecycle definitions is to make absolutely sure they are objective, distinctive and primarily based on measurable facts characteristics. By aim, I mean not open up to interpretation by whoever is location the asset lifecycle flag (as opposed to subjective definitions, used to explain art for the beholder, stiff peaks in a merengue, or pornography to a supreme court docket justice). By exclusive, I indicate that an asset can’t be in two phases concurrently. And by measurable facts characteristics, I indicate knowledge collected by the CMDB/Asset MDR, both collected by automatic mechanisms or by other teams’ pursuits.

With this in intellect, enable us utilize new definitions to these 5 asset lifecycle phases but change the definitions so that they are objective, exceptional, and based mostly on measurable data attributes:

1. Acquisition/Advancement – cash, or the guarantee of dollars, has been paid for the possession or suitable to use the asset but has not nevertheless been received nor deployed into the computing natural environment

Data characteristics: Obtain Buy Variety or Bill Number 

2. Release/Deployment – Asset has been physically received and accounted for, and is now currently being made ready for use in the computing natural environment, but not nonetheless deployed into the computing setting.

Information attributes: Buy Purchase Selection or Invoice Quantity, in addition Invoice of Lading information and visible stock

3. Operation – Asset is active in the computing environment 

Data attributes: All the attributes for Section #1 & #2, furthermore: existing IP Tackle, network scanning tools, use logs, command, and manage instrument information, and many others.

4. (Re)deployment* – Asset has been eradicated from the computing surroundings quickly, with the intent it will be made use of again 

Details attributes: Very same as Phase #1 & #2, but all facts attributes from Period #3 would be out of date

5. Retirement – Asset has been eradicated from the computing environment forever and is no for a longer time the residence or concern of the organization. 

Data attributes: All from Phases #1-4, moreover a Chain of Custody file (i.e., disposal certification, donation receipt, law enforcement report, and many others.)

*Notice – Sharp-eyed viewers will discover Release/Deployment and (Re)deployment are not particularly goal and distinctive from a person a different. And you are ideal. I assure I will clarify this if you remain with me!

Many thanks to these definitions, an intrepid ITAM supervisor can look at the facts attributes coming into their CMDB/Asset MDR and know which asset has moved their place in the asset lifecycle. Your ITAM crew can glance at the sum complete of gadgets in your setting, sift out the asset data with lifecycle configurations that match the expected details attributes and aim on exploring the kinds that really do not. Probably a difficulty ticket or modify ask for wasn’t correctly designed right before the Support Desk replaced a Laptop? Or only component of a cargo was gained due to the fact of source chain issues? Was a laptop computer lost or stolen, and was Cyber Security notified? And if that piece of hardware has been pulled off the wire, can the program assigned to it be used in other places?

With the ITAM workforce actively testing the veracity of the data characteristics defining the asset lifecycle, two items then happen. First, the number of asset documents the ITAM group necessary to analysis and update manually is a fantastic metric for both the overall health of services assistance procedures and the over-all precision of the information contained inside of the CMDB/Asset MDR. Next, the much more correct and responsive reporting from the CMDB/Asset MDR will make improvements to the total trustworthiness of the CMDB/Asset MDR by the CFOs and CIOs.

Now, let’s deal with the asterisk, our Roger Maris of ITAM, the (Re)Deployment phase. The ISO/IEC 19770-1:2017 regular combines the initial deployment and recovery and redeployment of property into a solitary section. And this is to the ITAM industry’s detriment. Asset restoration and redeployment is a person of the 3 procedures Gartner identifies as vital to achieving that 30% expense personal savings (described earlier in this write-up). Any asset currently owned and redeployed stops a new asset from staying procured a straight-line price tag cost savings for both equally the hardware and software package budgets. ITAM teams can extra evidently display these personal savings by tracking and reporting particularly how a lot of property pass by way of this “Redeployment” phase.

And that we do not explain why so couple of of the C-Suite Leadership declare to see any benefit from our endeavours.